We’re back again with our next ‘braai’ weekend edition … amazing how time flies when you’re having fun 😊.
Just a reminder: “What is a braai”?
The word ‘braai’ is an Afrikaans word, meaning barbecue. This means you grill or roast (mostly) meat over the open coals – something South Africans love to do (especially over weekends).
We had a braai on Friday evening – to celebrate the start of the weekend and another one on Sunday (still, to celebrate the weekend 😁).
Friday evening kicked off with a big fire! And then it was time to prepare our Espetada. While Espetada is actually a traditional Portuguese cuisine (cooking food on skewers), we’ve put a South African twist to it … using prime sirloin steak, heaps of fresh garlic and bay leaves.
To add as a side dish, we’ve fried onion in a pan, then add young baby marrows and a can of diced tomatoes.
It was a great way starting our weekend and after putting ‘boerewors’ (traditional South African sausage) on the fire, we were ready to enjoy a fine meal!
While we are now entering the season of autumn, most of our days are still sunny and warm. This meant we could be heading straight for our outside braai.
As a side meal, we’ve once again turned to the trusted mushroom. We’ve filled the mushrooms with cheddar-, mozzarella- and cream cheese, baby spinach, chopped garlic and an egg. After baking in the oven for about 15 minutes, these were ready to be plated.
Our appetizer was in the form of ‘Angel Kisses’ – bacon strips filled with cherries. You are guaranteed to lick your fingers after eating these 😉.
Pork is currently selling at really affordable prizes here in South Africa. We’ve bought a few pork chops and after adding some braai spices, these were sizzling away on the coals.
Our wine for today, has a bit of history to it … we love dogs and had two golden cocker spaniels some years ago (they have passed on in the meantime, but we have wonderful memories of them). Our female spaniel was called Juliet … and when we saw the wine with the same name as our beloved dog, we just had to buy a bottle!
And so, we’ve ended another weekend braai with great food and good wine.
Next weekend, we are camping (again) … this time on a wine farm and we hope to show the beauty of this place to you, as well as some new braai recipes. Until then … 🔥
Wet and Dusty Roads 
Delicious barbecued food once again. I like the way you illustrate each stage of the cooking process. I’d never thought of combining cherries and bacon but it sounds delicious. You mentioned baby marrows, I was wondering if these are what we call courgettes! You won’t believe that we woke to snow this morning, almost unbelievable in mid-April so no bbq here just yet.
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As far as I know, baby marrows are family of the courgettes … they say if you pick the marrow small, it’s classified as a courgette (ok, that’s a fun food fact for you there 😊).
Oh no, more snow 👀👀 … I think your summer is still locked down here in South Africa … hoping for sunshine soon!
Thanks for reading and commenting, Marion – take care 🌸.
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So interesting to learn the word for Barbecue in Afrikaan! And yes, espetadas are a big thing here in Portugal and I do love them. I don’t eat red meat, but we do them with tender chicken breast, slices of red and green pepper and onion… it’s delicious! Braai is also a big thing here in Portugal but the word is “churrasco” 🙂 especially in summer, and it ends up being quite healthy as well since we only season the meat with salt, garlic and bay leaves, very similar to what you did. The mushrooms also look amazing…
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“Churrasco” – that’s a great word we need to remember! When we’ve visited Portugal, we had a taste of your chicken espetada and it was DELICIOUS! I hope your summer is coming soon, in order for you to have a churrasco 😄.
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You pair dine like Kings! Half your luck! And Bon Appetit
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😄 … Thanks Mel … if you can’t be a king, eat like a king!!
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My sentiments exactly!
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Angel Kisses….be still my heart! Sweet and salty bacon, what a great combination!!!!
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😁 … the names says it all!
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All the food looks so yummy!
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It was indeed Sarah … a few leftovers for today (and it even tasted better!)
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Oh my word it looks AMAZING. I’m sitting here drooling. Oh that bacon, and those steaks, and those burgers. Oh how I wish I’d been there! 🙂
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I’m telling you … it was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s 😋. Good thing you can’t smell it …
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Sjoo looks delicious, I think your braais are very very inspiring 😋😋😋
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Thanks a lot ☺️ … we are happy when we can sit next to the fire (that’s for sure our inspiration!)
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Looks delish! Lovely post!
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Thank you so much! We love our ‘braai’ meals 😊.
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Another great post and, echoing Marion’s comment above, I love the way you illustrate the recipe with images of the ingredients, cooking process, wine etc., you are so organised. When I cook it is barely controlled chaos and the camera is the last thing on my mind until it is on the plate.
I had never considered pork with cherries as a combination (duck certainly) but my brain is spinning now trying to work out some sort of recipe involving those elements. I’ve got my weekly shopping tomorrow (well later today as it is the middle of the night here) and I shall definitely be buying the “necessaries”.
I love the look of those pork chops as I eat pork a lot, in fact I may even prefer it to red but I suppose I should not say that in front of an Afrikaaner!
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No, that’s perfectly ok to say that in front of an Afrikaner … just as long as it’s meat you prefer 😄.
It’s definitely easier to take photo’s of the braai process when you’re more than one person – one braai and the other one take the pictures … but sometimes we have such a great time next to the fire that we also forget to take photo’s!
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Are there any vegans in RSA or have you culled them all? ;-))
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😅 See, the thing is … we don’t have vegans in our group of friends … but if a friend of a friend join us who are vegan, we will certainly make a plan.
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Such a beautiful post to read and thrill with the delicious pics. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pics. I just did something on my experience from a Portuguese Colonised Goa along with a FREE recipe of Sorpotel an awesome Portuguese Delicacy, feel free to visit my post to check it out. Hope you like it as much as I liked yours.
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Thanks for reading about our traditional South African ‘braai’ and your lovely comments. I had to read immediately about your Sorpotel and will definitely give it a try! And thanks for following our blog – we’ve done the same with your blog (oh, and by the way, my middle name is also Sophia 😊). Looking forward to read your inspiring posts.
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Thank you for all your kind words. It’s nice to now be connected and I will certainly look forward to stay in touch as and when possible. Interesting that you have a middle name after mine. Fascinating. ever considered coming down to India?
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Yes … I guess we’re connected by our names then 😊. We would love to visit India one day … whenever that might be possible! We’ve seen so many beautiful photo’s and heard wonderful stories of your country.
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What you see is not what you get as far as India goes. but on the contrary you get so much more when you visit India. No amount of pictures can depict the beauty that’s inherent in every nook and corner. There’s so much beauty in some of what might seem ugly otherwise. Cannot be expressed, needs to be experienced first hand. So yes, you must take time out. I assure you it will be life changing. Meanwhile, i’m definitely looking to visit new destinations and meet new people. let’s stay connected.
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I totally understand what you’re saying … sometimes the beauty of a country is hidden and it needs to be ‘uncovered’ 😊. Yes, let’s stay connected!
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